We Could Be Heroes- Or Something
by Shamelessly Radiant
Summary: ONE-SHOT: A series of vignettes exploring Alex' and Justin's relationship through the movie.


'It's a complicated relation', barely covers it.

They are like the sun and the earth, always spinning around in circles around each other, though he supposes he is the earth, attracted to her orbit, because she does not spin around anyone. Or like the moon and the sea, pulling at each other in an endless game of tug of war, always coming back to each other. Or like a cat and a dog-

Point is: he can't live with her, and he can't live without her.

.

When he says: "my heart hurts when I am not around her", she feels her own heart hurt too. The momentary shock is so great, she plays it off, goes about helping her, thinks it just might be a side effect of that compassion thing he had told her weeks ago.

The truth is: Juliet is nothing like her, and that hurts her too, so much. She's blonde, with blue eyes, sharp wit (not the only thing sharp about her, get it, her fangs, ha-ha, oh...) and is into things like _definitions_ , eating healthy, sporting, history.

She wants so badly to be able to find a fault in Juliet, that she does not even notice the Van Heusen's plan to suck her and Harper's blood out (or Harper's and her, whatever). And when he comes to save them, Juliet is with him because of course she is.

.

Alex must go and make a whole emotional speech about family, and make a heartfelt apology, _winging it_ , and she actually does it, gets them to keep their powers.

The thing is, though, if they get their powers back- or well, if they are not taken away, to be correct, they might still end up as Jerry, Kelbo and Meg, and that terrifies him, and it is not for the obvious reason of having a Max with powers, because the chances of him falling in love with a mortal girl are slim to none, but because they are better with each other.

(Because he is better with her.)

.

Before they go to Puerto Rico, or _wherever_ it is her mom met her dad and they decided to conceive, he is so cold to her: calling her irresponsible, trapping her in a bag, gloating, being a jerk.

Rubbing the fact that they have to spend a magic less vacation in every two seconds, and she _knows_ he has the family wand.

So, she gets him to agree with her, and he even decides to help her by distracting their parents (though, magically gluing mom to a chair, not the brightest idea?) But then she ruins everything. What the hell is wrong with her? Why does she keep breaking everything she touches?

She wishes a world away, and suddenly her parents are strangers to each other and to them, and everything is a mess.

.

Their parents just walk off from family dinner, and later, his dad calls him _dude._

There is one word on his mind: Alex.

And she keeps trying to shoulder the blame of on him, and then Max goes and hugs their mom without wanting to let go, and they lost the book and family wand, and they don't have their wands because they had to give them up because of Alex.

It always comes back to Alex.

.

"Suppose a young, inexperienced, stupid, selfish-" and _hey_ , that hurts, okay? Family is one of the most important things to her and they keep demeaning her, telling her what to do, insulting her.

Bottom line is, she didn't mean to do this, but she did, because she always does things she didn't mean to do.

She's just not sure if it'll get fixed this time.

.

"Alex and I are going to go find the stone of dreams, Max you stay here-"and that sounds like music to her ears.

Except, no it doesn't because he is still acting know-it-all-better-than-you and she's pretty sure he wants her with him to control her, and to make sure she would spend her time drinking cocktails instead.

Which she wouldn't, she absolutely-

Oh who is she kidding, maybe one or two.

But still.

.

The path will only reveal itself to the one with pure intentions.

She honestly just wants her parents back. Later she'll wonder why it didn't work for Justin, but it is probably because of his insane urge to always be approved.

She'll not wonder why it didn't work for the worst magician ever and his crazy Ginny parrot- or what's her name? - and she should have.

Then again, there are a lot of things Alex Russo should do.

.

He says so many things he didn't mean to say on those stones. _You make it seem effortless,_ and _I have to be_ , and _do you even want it?_

But she does do, and then- _they'd love you anyways._

.

 _You know that goes both ways_ and his hand on her waist to steady her.

For some reason, she can't get the look he gave her out of her mind.

.

Alex looks small, and lost when she finally admits it was her fault.

So he finds himself looking for what to say, and he still doesn't know what it is when he opens his mouth, and tries to not look too surprised at his own words when he finds he actually means them: "Because it's you and I, how could we not?"

And then he tries to lighten the mood, change the subject; make some throwaway statement about her making fun of him.

(And yes, it is also because he wants to see her laugh.)

"I like this, let's try this."

And they do.

.

He confirms her suspicions about the path opening, but he looks so lost about it that she can't even gloat.

"You are a great wizard, Justin."

"I just know a bunch of spells, how does that make me great?"

"That isn't why I think you're great. You're always there for me, no matter how many times I screw up. "

"That doesn't make me great... that just makes me a good brother."

The word 'brother' hangs awkwardly in the air between them, or maybe it's just her, but somehow it feels like a reminder, like she had forgotten... something."

"I know I don't say it very often, but- thank you."

"You're welcome," and then, just for a second, she thinks he might kiss her, and he leans forward a little (or she imagines his movement) but then he looks away, and-

She remembers.

.

He wakes up with his arm around her in the middle of the night, blinks and closes his eyes again, holding her tighter.

They wake up back to back, later.

He doesn't miss her body, he doesn't.

"Are you ready?" he asks.

"No, but let's go." _It's you and I, everything will be fine._

She takes his hand. He doesn't let go.

.

She apologizes, tears in her eyes and Justin plays it off. But then he adds: "I need you."

(Could he look into her mind, he would see, she needs him too.)

.

He almost falls to death, twice, three times, and Alex can't do a thing about it. She doesn't know how to fix things, and isn't that the saddest thing of all-

Destroying is all she's good for, apparently.

And then she's the one falling, and she screams his name, and again, and he's _there_ , as he always is: "I got you, I won't let you fall."

They hug, and neither one of them wants to let the other go.

And then-

That _stupid bird_ wrecks everything

.

Alex is telling him she's not ready, and Max disappears and everything is ruined, he can feel it in his very bones.

Fear, overwhelming, overpowering fear grips him tight as he thinks of his sister, or not quite sister now without their parents, and he hopes with his whole heart this will not tear them apart.

.

A wall of flames appears around her, and she can't help but feel betrayed.

But then, later, she wins, and it's not right, she should have thought this through, she shouldn't have let the competition catch her off guard, she should have been more like him.

It should have been him.

.

Sadness, and then confusion and emptiness; his magic, gone... how?

This strange girl asking for his help: "Why would I help you?" and she tells him he is her brother, what can't be right-

It can't.

But then she starts crying, and she knows his name, and he wishes he knew hers too.

"No, no, Justin, you can't leave me, please, please, remember, I'm Alex, I'm your little sister. I taunt you and I tease you and I make your life miserable but you love me anyways."

And it hits him like a ton of bricks, whoever this girl is, he does love her. He loves her.

"You're everything I ever wanted to be. I'm jealous of how smart you are, and how kind and how nice. Please don't leave me here."

"I'll never leave you. I don't know who you are but... I believe you." _I love you._

She hugs him, and he doesn't want to let go.

And then-

Nothingness.

Oblivion.

.

 _I'll never leave you._

But he is gone.

He should have won, he should have won, he should have won, and she is worthless without him.

But then her mother saves the day, her father tells her what to say, but she knows: it is so much more than that.

(And if somewhere along the lines she was wishing for Justin to be just Justin, and for her to be just Alex, she pushes it down- she has always been great at not listening to advice. And she's pretty sure this one is not worth listening to.)

.

He comes back, and his first instinct is to call for Alex.

And there she comes, this selfless, selfless girl he has been calling selfish all these years, and she shows him what he suspected: she gave up her powers, simply for the sake of everything being the same.

(And if somewhere along the lines he is remembering the unconditional love he felt for her on the field, so much more than brotherly affection should be, well- he pushes it down. Sometimes you have to forget things, and he's pretty sure this one is not worth remembering.)

.

(Though maybe it is.)

.

(Though maybe it is.)

.

And if afterwards she wakes up in cold sweats, feeling empty and scared, and if he happens to be there, always there for her, in the hotel room and in her bedroom at home, they just curl up around each other, holding tight, holding close, not wanting to let each other go.

They need each other, and that is magic on its own.

 **A/N: Yes, I know. Review?**


End file.
